Description

Never used a liquid handling robot before, but tired of pipetting for up to an hour or more at a time? In this 6-hour class, you will learn how to:

Set-up and run the Opentrons pipetting robot,

Write Python programming scripts for the robot, and

Share protocols with the worldwide Opentrons community.

The session includes hands-on time testing protocols on the OT-2 and guidance in writing and debugging easily-customizable scripts. By the end of class, everyone will have a ready-to-use, automated workflow for their own wet lab projects!

No previous experience with Python is necessary, but if you want a refresher, please join us on Saturday for an optional Python Boot Camp. Python is an incredibly powerful and easy to learn all-purpose programming language. We will be walking step-by-step through DataCamp’s Introduction to Python Course, which is freely available online.This optional boot camp is a great course for people who haven’t programmed at all, or just never in Python. This would also be a great refresher course for people who already have a bit of experience but may feel rusty.

If you want to keep learning with the OT-2 after class, the Genspace lab has one for member use.

Ages 14+

Jane Shmushkis is a Research & Development Engineer at Opentrons, developing add-on devices for the OT-2 liquid-handling robot to automate increasingly complex lab protocols. Jane received her Master’s and Bachelor's degrees in Bioengineering from the University of Pennsylvania. She is a former iGEM team member, student researcher in an optogenetics lab, and instructor at a bioengineering educational laboratory.

Laura Cox is a Software Engineer at Opentrons, developing innovative solutions for a low environment awareness device. Laura received her Bachelor’s degree in Biomedical Engineering with a minor in Computer Science from the Georgia Institute of Technology. Previously, she worked as a mechanical engineer for a medium-sized Spinal Implant company and a systems engineer at Siemens.